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The Rice that isn’t Spanish

I’m cooking for myself for the next few days, so instead of coming home and cooking every day I decided to try to make Spanish Rice. Now, it’s not actually Spanish and I’m not entirely sure why it’s called that, but that’s what my Aunt calls it.

I don’t have that many memories of being a kid but the ones that I do have seem to revolve around food. (fatty for life?) One of those being Spanish Rice and the other being pancakes, each made by different aunts.

One of the things I remember most about visiting my Aunt L is that she always made pancakes for breakfast. I swear that these were the best damn pancakes I’d ever eaten and try as she could my mom could never replicate the recipe (and she did try). I became spoiled and would only eat the pancakes that my aunt made… until I was maybe 24. The joke was on me, my aunt didn’t have some amazing pancake recipe, she had help from Aunt Jemima. I think that was one of the saddest days of my food life.

Moving on to tonight! So my Aunt O used to make Spanish rice a lot, it’s a one pot meal and can usually last a day or so depending on how many people are eating. It’s the perfect “single girl” dish so I made some and will probably be eating it for the next 4 days.

Once it starts to brown add the garlic, cook until translucent (season)

Next go in the carrots, cook about 4 minutes (season)*

Celery and onions, cook until onions are translucent (season)

Next add in the rice and cook until translucent (this will take a while, and make sure to stir often)

Once the rice is translucent add in the tomatoes along with the amount of water required for your particular rice. Keep in mind that the tomatoes have liquid and should be considered part of the “liquid”.

Cook as you would normal rice.

Once it’s done, fluff it and enjoy!

*You should be seasoning as you layer on ingredients. Sadly mine didn’t come out as it should have, I’ve never really been able to make rice no matter how many “different ways” people have instructed me to make it. 😦 I think I overcompensated on the liquid because it came out a little soggy. Which isn’t supposed to be the case since you saute the rice beforehand. I’ll get it right one day, until then… maybe I should get a rice cooker. Even though my mom says that’s cheating. Either that or I’ll just ask my mom to make me rice whenever I need it, I’m sure she’d like that because I’d end up visiting her as well.

I will deal with the mushiness, because I like it that much. Happy Cooking!